As mentioned in an earlier blog entry, the CIA owned In-Q-Tel has financial interest in a software firm that provides data management systems to the healthcare providers and organizations across North America.  Does that mean that the CIA is prying into the health records of individuals in these jurisdictions?  Is that right? Well, according to a recent report from Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner it is.   

On August 11, 2006, privacy advocates expressed concerns that In-Q-Tel’s investment in Initiate Systems may give the CIA access to provincial medical records. Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner Anne Cavoukian immediately launched a privacy investigation into the allegations to determine if any personal health information was being disclosed in contravention of Ontario’s health privacy legislation.

The investigation found that Initiate Systems, which provides software to an electronic health record application used in Ontario, does not release information to the CIA and therefore is not in violation of its health-care privacy law.  According to Cavoukian, Initiate System has “extremely narrow, on-site access to personal health information, under tightly controlled and limited conditions.” Further, the report went on to say that In-Q-Tel’s investment in Initiate Systems does not allow the CIA’s venture capital firm to access any health information contained in Ontario’s  Enterprise Master Patient Index (EMPI). 

Sarah Kramer, CIO and vice-president of Cancer Care Ontario, who was responsible for procuring the software for the Ministry, executed a through and very rigorous procurement process that ended in the selection of Initiate Systems.  There are “… a lot of provisions in both our contract and our operational processes to ensure that this information is held private and secure” says Kramer over concerns that Initiate Systems is providing backdoor data access over the border to the CIA.